Foul play, food toxicity suspected behind Rajouri mystery deaths
Forty days after the first among 14 mystery deaths shocked Rajouri’s Badhaal village, experts are suspecting foul play and food toxicity with a special investigation team probe being set up on Wednesday.
Starting December 7, 2024, when Fazal Hussain (40) became the first local to die of unknown causes, experts from top central government laboratories of the ICMR, the DRDO, the CSIR and the PGI, Chandigarh, have been working to crack the mystery cases but without avail.
Special probe team set up
- Samples from the deceased were tested for all possible pathogens and even anthrax. However, there has been no headway as yet
- Lab experts from the ICMR, CSIR, DRDO & PGI, Chandigarh, have been working overtime to crack the cases, but to no avail; special investigation team set up
The Tribune has learnt that samples from the deceased were tested not just for normal viral and bacterial causes, but also for exotic pathogens and even anthrax.
All 100 plus tests done at the ICMR’s National Institute of Virology, Pune; CSIR’s Indian Institute of Toxicology Research, Lucknow; the PGI, Chandigarh; and the DRDO, Gwalior, for the entire possible range of pathogens have returned negative so far.
“Whatever we could possibly do and test within our bandwidth and mandate, we have done,” a top expert involved with the Rajouri death probe told The Tribune today, adding that a second set of experts had again been stationed in Badhaal to collect histories and samples afresh. Those samples are being sent for retests just in case the first round of investigations missed something.
Asked if Indian labs could have missed any toxin, experts said it was too early to say that. They, however, cited how similar June 2019 mystery deaths of over 150 children in Bihar’s Muzaffarpur were eventually tracked down to a toxin in litchi fruit called methylene cyclopropyl-glycine which the CDC, Atlanta, helped the Indian authorities detect. A senior doctor involved with the Rajouri probes said deaths in Badhaal pointed to possible foul play and most likely food-related toxicity.
“The cause is most likely a toxin which came through food, metabolised so fast that by the time we tested the samples, we could not find lethal traces of anything. Pesticides and insecticides were found in some samples but these were within permissible limits,” said an expert who met families of the deceased.
The Rajouri death trail led experts to a wedding in the first victim Fazal Hussain’s family on December 2. “It was his eldest daughter’s wedding and 230 villagers had lunch that day. The daughter returned to visit her family on December 4 and from December 6 onwards, the father developed symptoms of abdominal pain, vomiting and drowsiness. He died on December 7. On December 8, three children died and subsequently, one more died. Later, we saw more deaths, the last being yesterday,” said an expert who probed deaths in the first family. Reports also record that Fazal Hussain was against his eldest daughter’s inter-caste wedding — an angle cops are likely to probe for a possible link with the deaths now. The first set of deaths in Rajouri involved two families. In the first family (of Fazal Hussain), five of the seven members died. In the second family of nine, four died and in the third family of 10 members, five died.
The experts said personal hygiene in Badhall village was extremely poor with local drinking water from “baolis”.
“All villagers as well as animals of the area drink from around three to four baolis in the village. Water toxicity was ruled out as it would not affect just three families. We did not leave anything uninvestigated. We asked about wild mushrooms, bats, infected fruits, everything possible,” said a doctor, adding that of the 14 deaths, 11 were children whose immunity is generally low. Experts also cited four MRIs, which indicated damage to the brain, leading them to believe that the cause of deaths could be a neurotoxin. “We, however, do not know what toxin this is and which source was used to deliver it. Signs are this was delivered through food but we still do not know that yet. We are still staring at a black hole,” said an expert.
